Blister card package



L. J. LIGHTNER ETAL. 3,203,542

Aug. 31, 1965 BLIS'IER CARD PACKAGE Fiied Jan. 22, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS LEON J. LIGHTNER MARTIN LINK ATTORNEY Aug. 31, 1965 J. LIGHTNER ETAL BLISTER CARD PACKAGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 22, 1964 INVENTORS LEON J. LIGHTNER B MARTIN LINK ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,203,542 BLISTER 'CARI) PACIQAGE Leon J. Lightner, Livingston, and Martin Link, Wayne, N.J., assignors to Union Bag-Camp Paper Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Virginia Filed Jan. 22, 1964, Ser. No. 339,480 7 Claims. "(Cl. 206-4531) The present invention relates to an article-holding display pack arrangement and more particularly, relates to a stable display pack for supporting and protecting collapsible or deformable containers, such as toothpaste tubes and the like, in an upstanding position.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a display pack for containers, particularly those of the deformable or collapsible type holding unctuous materials, which .are not self-supporting, in an upright position corresponding to advertising written thereon, whereby the indi-cia on the container and its support means may be read easily; to provide a display pack for collapsible containers whereby the container cannot be opened and used without breaking open and essentially destroying the display pack; to provide a display pack of novel design and attractiveness, and which isself-supporting in an upright position on a counter or the like; to provide a novel display pack which supports a collapsible container in a' manner allowing limited free movement of the container within the display pack without deforming the container; to provide an inherently shock-resistant display pack for collapsible containers.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a display pack arrangement capable of easy manufacture from cheap materials such as cardboard blanks and transparent plastics.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafiter described and the scope of the invention which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view in elevation showing an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation View taken from the right side of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective View of the blister body element in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the top portion of FIG. 2 to illustrate the preformed blister indent-ati-on under the cap;

FIG. 5 is a sectional View through section 55 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the blank;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view in elevation showing an other embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation view taken from the right side of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the blister body element in FIG. 7.

Referring to the drawings, particularly FIGS. l-S, a conventional collapsible tube or container 3 to be displayed has a cap 4 and a shoulder 5. With the cap 4 in place the tube 3 may be considered as having a neck portion 5a defining the narrowest portion of the tube between its cap 4 and its shoulder 5. The bottom of the tube 3 has a generally flat portion 6 which tapers to a point or line Go on which the tube cannot stand by itself.

A blister 7 made of any suitable transparent and frangible material according to any suitable manufacturing process, e.g., extrusion, vacuum forming, injection molding, and the like, is formed for a partially surrounding fit around the tube 3. In particular, the blister may be formed from a blank so that it has a flat back portion 8. The blister 7 is shaped so that it has head portion 9 and a body portion 10 of volume sufiiciently great to provide buffer space between the inner wall of the blister and adjacent outer wall of the container and to contain the tube 3.

The blister 7 has an inwardly projecting shoulder 11. When the tube 3 is properly positioned Within the blister -7, the shoulder 11 provides suspension points for the cap 4 of the tube. The shoulder 11, therefore, supports the tube 3. The bottom portion of the blister body 10 is formed to have an inwardly extending shoulder 12 so that a well or recess 13 is located at the bottom of the blister.

The blister 7 is located in an upright position by means of an upstanding stand 14 which may be formed in any suitable manner, for example, as from a blank. The stand 14 may be made of any suitable stiff material and may be transparent or opaque. For more economical construction, paperboard is a convenient material. The stand 14 has a front panel 15 and a back panel 16 which are foldingly connected by a base support panel 17, The front panel 15 has an opening 18 shaped complementarily to the profile of the blister 7 for close receiving fit therewith.

As best shown in FIG. 5, the flat back portion 8 of the blister 7 is sandwiched between the paperboard panels 15 and 16. The panels 15 and 16 are dielectrically or heat sealed, cemented, tabbed, riveted or otherwise suitably secured together sufiiciently tightly to hold the back portion 8 of the blister 7 in place, thereby providing support for the blister.

When the blister 7 and stand 14- are brought together with the tube 3 placed inside the blister, the inwardly protruding shoulder 11 of the blister suspendingly supports the tube at its narrowest profile between the cap 4 and the tube body. When upright the tube 3 is supported by the bottom of the cap 4 resting on the shoulder 11.

The bottom portion of the tube 3 extends into the recess or well 13 of the blister. Depending upon either the size of the recess 13 or the size of tube 3, or both, the bottom of the tube 3 may or may not fit tightly Within said recess. If it is desired that the tube 3 be immobilized within the blister 7, the size of the shoulder 12 may be formed so that the recess 13 provides a tight fit for the flat portion 6 of the tube 3. It has been found that the tube is best protected against damage and deformation if the blister is custom fitted for the size of the tube so that the tube is virtually immobilized within the blister.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 6-9 in which is depicted an embodiment of a display pack 19 visible from two opposite sides. As best shown in FIG. 9 said dis play pack 19 has a blister container 20 foldingly formed of two mirror-symmetrical blister halves 21 and 22.

Each of the halves 21 and 22 preferably may have identical shapes. The blister halves 21 and 22 have back support panels 23 and 24, respectively, which are brought together to form the transparent blister container 20 for the tube 3. As best shown in FIG. 8, with the halves 21 and 22 brought together, the resulting transparent container 20 has respective head and body portions 26 and 27 between which is an inwardly protruding shoulder 28 defining the narrowest profile portion of the container 20.

The bottom portion of the container 20 has opposing shoulder portions 29 and 30 between which is defined a recess or well 31.

A stand 32 for holding the blister container 20 upright is made from a blank 32a of a paperboard or of any other suitable material. The blank 32a may be generally rectangular in shape and has a bottom front fold line 33 and a bottom forward fold line 34 between which is defined a base panel 35. Each of the fold lines may be provided with tabs 35a for improved stable support. Exterior of the respective fold lines 33 and 34 are defined front and back panels 36 and 37, respectively. The panels 36 and 37 have respective outer fold lines 36a and 37:: from which the panels are bent inwardly to form a laminated plate. Each of the panels 36 and 37 has a region of adhesive material extending outwardly from the dashed lines 38 so that when the blank 32 is folded, the panels 36 and 37 may be secured or laminated together in an upright manner so that they are supported by the base panel 35.

The panels 36 and 37 have cut therein respective openings 39 and 40 which are shaped complementary to the profile of the blister container 20. The openings 39 and 40 are mirror images of each other so that their edges are in register to fittingly receive the blister container 20. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the openings 39 and 40 may be cut in an oflset manner to provide more space for advertising on the upright portions of the stand.

As best shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the blister contanier 20 is supported in an upstanding position by the stand 32 by virtue of the adhesively bound front and back panels 36 and 37 hearing against each other and against the brought-together blister panels 23 and 24, and further, if desired, by virtue of the bottom of the blister container 20 resting against the base panel 35. The flanges of the blister formed by the panels 23 and 24 are sealed to the inner surfaces of the panels 36 and 37 to prevent movement or shifting of the blister. The display pack may be provided with a hanger hole 41.

When the display pack, as shown in FIGS. 6-9, is assembled with the tube 3 inside, the tube 3 in its upright position is suspendingly and pendulously supported at its cap by the inwardly projecting shoulder 28. The tube 3 at its lower portion 6 may be further supported, if desired, by the shoulders 29 and 30 of the blister container, as shown in FIG. 8, so that the tube 3 is substantially immobile and thus, inherently shock mounted.

It is understood that the stand 14 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 obviously may be fabricated in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with FIGS. 6, 7 and 8.

It is appreciated that the display pack according to the invention cannot be opened in a usual manner, e.g., by customers, without essentially destroying the display pack. The contents of the display pack are accessible by virtue of the frangible nature of the blister.

While in the foregoing specification there have been set forth in detail specific structures for illustrating embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that such details of structure may be varied by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Since certain changes may be made in the above article, and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter container in the above description (or shown in the accompanying drawing) shall be interpreted as illustrtiv'e and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A display pack holding and displaying in an upright position a collapsible tubular body fitted with a removable cap and forming with said cap a concave portion adjacent said cap comprising: a blister of transparent material having a fiat portion and hollowed out portion containing at least a portion of the body to be displayed; said blister having a portion of reduced dimensions registrable with said concave portion of said body under the cap whereby said body is suspendingly supported therefrom; and stand-up support means including a base portion and upwardly extending front and back panels tapering from said base portion, said panels being secured to said blister to hold said blister substantially upright.

2. The display pack according to claim 1 which comprises a further blister, the open sides of said blisters being located adjacently and in register.

3. A display pack according to claim 1 wherein said support means comprises front and back panels which meet convergingly to an upstanding lamination, one of said panels having an aperture therein for receiving said blister, at least a portion of the fiat portion of said blister being supported in laminar relation with said front and back panels.

4. A display pack according to claim 1 wherein said blister includes support means integral therewith for limiting the movement of the body in said blister.

5. A display pack holding and displaying in an upright position a collapsible tubular body fitted with a removable cap, said cap forming a concavity with said body in a location of the body adjacent said cap, said display pack comprising: first and second transparent blisters having hollowed out portions symmetrical about a folding axis containing and displaying said body therebetween; each of said blisters having flat base portions; each of said blisters having a portion of reduced dimensions registrable with the concave portion of said body under the cap whereby said body is suspendingly supported from said cap; and stand-up support means including a base portion and upwardly extending front and back panels tapering from said base portion, said panels being secured to said blisters to hold said blisters substantially upright.

6. The display pack according to claim 5 wherein said support means comprises front and back panels which meet convergingly from said base portion to an upstanding laminated portion, said laminated portion including the flat portion of both said blisters.

7. A display pack according to claim 6 wherein each of said blisters includes a head portion, a bottom portion and a neck portion therebetween, said neck potrion having inwardly protruding shoulder means for suspendingly supporting the body to be displayed at its concavity.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,426,689 9/47 Hilton 211-72 2,515,026 7/50 Van Rosen.

2,811,246 10/57 Sloane 20645.19 2,937,746 5/60 Ferguson 20680 2,952,353 9/60 Rohdin 206-4534 3,004,661 10/61 Schumann 206-78 3,064,402 11/62 Crane 206'78 3,074,540 1/63 Beich et al. 206-78 3,095,966 7/63 Pfohl 206'-78 3,131,807 5/64 Jacobs 206-4519 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE O. RALSTON, Examiner. 

1. A DISPLAY PACK HOLDING AND DISPLAYING IN AN UPRIGHT POSITION A COLLAPSIBLE TUBULAR BODY FITTED WITH A REMOVABLE CAP AND FORMING WITH SAID CAP A CONCAVE PORTION ADJACENT SAID CAP COMPRISING: A BLISTER OF TRANSPARENT MATERIAL HAVING A FLAT PORTION AND HOLLOWED OUT PORTION CONTAINING AT LEAST A PORTION OF THE BODY TO BE DISPLATED; SAID BLISTER HAVING A PORTION OF REDUCED DIMENSIONS REGISTRABLE WITH SAID CONCAVE PORTION OF SAID 